Nigerian students in Saskatchewan fearing for families

Attacks by the Islamic extremists Boko Haram in Nigeria are worrying Nigerian students at the University of Regina.

• Boko Haram destruction in Nigeria captured in satellite images, Amnesty says

Dabotubo Alalibo, who is the president of the African Students Association, says he is afraid the attacks could migrate to where his family lives, in a southern state.

"My initial reaction was worry for, you know, families and most importantly my own family, being that I've been away from there for such a long time," he said. [I'm] just afraid of how the situation could get to my own family."

Boko Haram was in the news over the past year after kidnapping hundreds of school girls, prompting pleas from around the world to release them.

• Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram: protests but no rescue

Recently, Boko Haram has launched deadly attacks in the northeastern part of the country.

Amnesty International is suggesting a death toll into the thousands, although the Nigerian military has stated 150 deaths.

According to the 2011 federal census, about 535 people in Saskatchewan claimNigeria as their country of ethnic origin.